St. John was working two or three days a week, putting in between 10 and 15 hours of work before he passed.

“He had quite a history,” said Dean Clevesy, store director at the Stratham Market Basket. “People loved him here.”

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During the Market Basket battle in 2014, the Union Leader reports he had to take time off when his hours were cut, prompting a fundraising campaign to help him until he could get back to regular hours.

The Union Leader said the Exeter resident never thought of himself as someone special, but those he worked with and the customers thought highly of him.

Stratham Market Basket customers reacting to death of 96 y/o Arthur St. John. "I admired him for getting up, coming in & doing the job." pic.twitter.com/gT1bLJuHq8

“People would always ask me, ‘How is Arthur doing? I haven’t seen him.’ I’d tell them, ‘Oh he took last week off,” Clevesy told the newspaper. “That guy would come in a snowstorm. You’d have to tell him not to come in. He was a real trooper.”